Chasing a Wish upon the Heavenly Throne
by KurobaraIto
Summary: A chance meeting with a girl in a park threw Issei's normal life into chaos. At least he got a new toy to play with. Now he had to reach the Heavenly Throne to get his wish.
1. Chapter 1

At a fine morning in Kuoh Academy, one Hyoudou Issei was currently running leisurely.

"Get back here you pervert!"

"Hyoudou you lech!"

Okay, so not exactly leisurely. Hyoudou's breath was ragged as he dragged his feet across the field in exhaustion. Running around the school building for the last twenty minutes without break finally took its toll on his body.

"Finally you stopped, huh?" the leader of the band of girls who chased him, Murayama spoke to him also in a ragged breath. Huh? Wasn't she a kendo-ka? How come she couldn't maintain her breath? "Where are you hiding your two friends?"

"That's the thing, Murayama. I haven't seen them today. Have you?" Issei asked back.

"Don't screw with me! You three usually hang out together! And by hanging out I mean peeping at us changing!" Murayama swung his wooden sword, causing Issei to hold his breath in anticipation of unimaginable pain.

"Kyaa! I'm sorry Murayama but I truly haven't seen them! Maybe as you talk to me here they were laughing while checking on other girls!"

Murayama thrust the wooden sword to Issei's stomach with full power and Issei keeled in pain.

"Then I'll let the others look for them while I beat you up until you want to celibate yourself!"

"Gyaaa!" Screams of pain and suffering were heard amongst the morning air of Kuoh Academy. The other students had gotten used to the usual cops and pervs game between the girls and the perverted trio. However, today the scream sounded quieter than usual.

After putting all kind of bruises on Issei's body, Murayama sighed. "I don't understand why you always chose to do this, Hyoudou."

Issei sat down and also sighed. "I don't understand why you always beat me up, Murayama."

A tick mark appeared on Murayama's head. "That's obvious, isn't it?! You always peeped on us! Of course, I'm going to beat you up!"

Rubbing his left arm that sported blue bruises, Issei winced as he registered the pain. Ouch, bandaging it will be a bitch. "Thanks for the answer, Murayama."

"Are you some kind of masochist?"

"Hell no! That kind of fetishistic play is Matsuda's! I just want to see boobs!"

Murayama swung her wooden sword once again and Issei closed his eyes, bracing for the incoming pain. But after fifteen seconds, he didn't feel any new pain or smacking sound. Hesitantly, Issei opened his eyes to find Murayama talking with the other girls. He let out a breath of relief and walked towards the infirmary to bandage all the bruises. God, with all the bandage, he would appear like a zombie.

Just as he took the second step, Issei felt death loomed behind him. Without looking back, Issei ran.

"What did I do this time?!"

"Since you're alone we're going to beat you three times to substitute for your friends!"

"That doesn't even make sense! They weren't with me!"

In the end, Issei went to the infirmary with three times more bruises than normal. The nurse who standby in the infirmary just shook her head after seeing his body. She gave him the bandages and went back to her job.

This was usual for him, the nurse obviously didn't approve of his behavior. Usually, Motohama, Matsuda, and Issei bandaged each other. Boy if the three of them were handsome and popular, many kinds of rumors would arise from such activities. Luckily or unluckily, the three of them were the most unpopular boys at Kuoh Academy.

But lately, Matsuda and Motohama seemed to stop regularly peeping on girls. He didn't know why, and when Issei approached one of them, they brushed him off. That actually kind of hurt, actually. To disregard their friends just like that. Obviously, they took him for granted.

As Issei entered his classroom, he noted that his two friends weren't in their seat. Once quick scan found none of them nor their bags in class. Maybe they skipped class? Wow, he might be an open pervert and proud of it but skipping class was just not cool. Your parents paid the school to teach you things but if you weren't there, then your parents just wasted their money. Kuoh Academy was a prestigious school and the tuition fee wasn't cheap.

Silently Issei wondered if he had to tell both his friends' parents that their son skipped school. He didn't want to betray their friendship like that, but they did it first by ditching him, so it was fair, right? Issei shook his head. That was another matter. First thing first he needed to know where the hell his friends were.

From behind the door, the teacher came and Issei put the matter on the back of his mind.

* * *

School ended, and Issei walked around the city alone. Usually, he would hang out after school together with Motohama and Matsuda but since both didn't come to school Issei thought he would walk around alone since a fine sunny day like this shouldn't be wasted.

He went to the arcade first, but as soon as Issei put the coins into the arcade machine, he didn't feel like playing it. He ended up giving the credits to some elementary school kids. Playing alone without a friend was kind of lonely. Dammit, why did they ditch him alone without any explanation? After leaving the arcade, Issei stumbled upon the front door of karaoke place. But even he knew karaoke without any friends was just sad, so he stopped his feet from entering the place and walked away.

"Damn. I don't know what to do."

Issei went to the vending machine near a park and bought a can of soda. He opened it and was greeted with a burst of the sweet liquid on his face. His emotion rising, Issei threw the can of soda angrily. He wasted one hundred yen goddammit! How the hell a soda that just came out of the vending machine had enough shake to burst?!

"Ouch!" a shout of pain came from the direction of the soda can he had just thrown.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to…" Whatever Issei wanted to say died after seeing the figure in front of him. Beautiful. That was the only thing that can describe the girl in front of him. Well, he supposed a 'very' can be inserted before the word.

"Mumumumu, it hurts." Teary-eyed, the beauty in front of groaned in pain as she rubbed her aching head.

"A-Ah! I'm very sorry!" Issei bowed to the beautiful girl in front of him. "I did not mean to hit you!"

"Huh?" The girl blinked. "O-Oh, it's okay, it's okay. I thought for sure it was my bad luck..." an aura of depression came and engulfed them.

"Um, Miss, are you okay?" suffocated by the depressed aura, Issei managed to get a sentence out.

"Y-Yes! I'm okay! Nothing's wrong! All is well!"

Even though she said that the aura of depression never left. Now Issei felt bad because he made her even more depressed than before.

"Do you want me to treat you to a drink, miss...?"

"Y-Yulia, my name is Yulia. A-And if you want to, you can..."

Now, the situation became even more awkward. "I'm Hyoudou Issei," Issei declared to the timid beauty despite the awkwardness. He then hurriedly went to the vending machine and put another 100 yen to buy a canned orange juice.

"Here," Issei gave Yulia the canned orange juice.

"Thank you, you're a nice guy."

Issei gestured Yulia to sat on the bench. "What are you doing here all alone, Yulia-san?"

Said girl just sighed depressingly. "I am running away, I guess... My brothers did something that I cannot tolerate, and I just want to go out."

"I... don't know what to say because I never experienced having a brother," Issei started. He then smiled, "But I'm sure they still care for you despite doing whatever they were doing. That's what I believe."

"How do you know that? You don't know anything about me," Yulia looked at Issei with an adorable glare that made Issei's heart soar.

"Even so, I believe siblings care for each other," was his short reply. "If you don't mind, you can tell me what they did."

Yulia just looked at him strangely. She then sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll tell you. Our entire family had a competition. We were given the chance to craft an item, and the best item will win. Each of us only gets one chance to craft it, but my brothers sabotaged my chance and left me with this fishing rod. Lame fishing rod. I was angry at them. I also wanted to win, why wouldn't they give me the chance? Why would they sabotage me like that?!"

At this point Yulia shouted at Issei, venting her suppressed anger. Anger at her brothers. Anger at the situation. Anger at her own weakness. She was angry.

"Why do you want to win?" Issei asked Yulia. "Is the prize worth much?"

"Well, the prize worth so much, however, I do not aim for the prize. I aim for the recognition that I win. I can win. I am one of the youngest in my family. If I win, that would shake the whole family."

Issei nodded to himself after hearing Yulia's explanation. "I see, I see. That's a worthy goal in itself. Wanting to be recognized, and not be set aside just because you're one of the youngest."

"Thank you," she smiled at him.

"I think your brother did that because he was afraid he would lose to you. That means you're good enough to win."

Yulia's face brightened a little as Issei said that. Then, it immediately went into another frown.

"Even so, I cannot win it like this now..." Yulia muttered as she brought up the fishing rod. It looks weird to Issei, as it has no reel.

"Um, Yulia-san, what kind of fishing rod is that?"

Yulia blinked. "Huh? What do you mean? It's just a normal fishing rod."

"It's definitely not a normal fishing rod! What kind of fishing rod has no reel?! Isn't that just a pole?!"

Yulia looked down at the 'fishing rod' that she carried. "Really?"

"Let me take a look," Issei stretched his arm towards Yulia, who immediately gave the 'fishing rod' to him without any resistance. He then observed the fishing rod more clearly. It has no reel as he saw before. The overall length was about two meters, give or take and just like other fishing rods, the tip is thinner than the bottom part, but there was a bladed part on the tip, as Issei found out by accidentally nicking his thumb. Issei also flexed the rod, testing its elasticity, and found out that it was similar to the one owned by his father. When he looked at the bottom part, he found several buttons, three to be exact. A triangle button on the top, a circle button on the middle, and a reverse triangle button on the bottom.

Huh? Issei thought. What were these buttons for? In curiosity, he pressed the triangle one.

Immediately fishing line came out of the tip at high speed.

Issei fell into silence. If his guess was correct then the reverse triangle one was for pulling the line. But wait. Let's try pressing the triangle button for a minute at least, Issei nodded to himself and did so.

An unending line came out of the tip at high speed.

"Infinite line?" Issei asked Yulia. "How is this possible? And that force to push the line out at high speed, how to achieve that? Is there any motor inside the rod?" He pressed the pull button and the line came back inside the rod at high speed.

"I don't know... As I said the one who made that are my brothers."

Issei went back to marvel at the miraculous item. A fishing rod with an unending line? "Yulia-san, this is in no way, a lame item as you said before. This is awesome!"

"Yeah, but it cannot win."

"What component is being judged by your family?" Issei asked Yulia because frankly if he were to be the judge, he would be amazed by this fishing rod.

"Well... that is..."

"Might." A new voice entered the conversation between Issei and Yulia. It was a voice that Issei didn't recognize, but Yulia seemed to recognize the voice because she gasped in shock at hearing it.

"Big Brother... what are you doing here?"

"Suddenly went missing like that, with your item no less. Of course, I'm worried," A handsome guy with facial features not unlike Yulia approached them. "Now come on, little sister. Let's go back home."

Before Yulia began to speak, she was cut by Issei's words.

"Oi oi, are you the one making fun of your little sister? You should be ashamed of yourself."

The handsome guy narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me. Who are you? What do you mean by making fun of my precious little sister?"

Issei shrugged. "That's what I get from her story, at least."

"You know nothing, boy. I suggest you stay out of this," the handsome man then focused on Yulia. "Little sister, let's go back home. Your other brothers are waiting for you. Throwing tantrum like this is not like you at all."

Yulia wanted to say something to her brother, but Issei once again beat her into it.

"Do you even know why she threw a tantrum?"

She shot Issei a half-hearted glare because she was angry, but only half-hearted because Issei somehow captured the essence of what she wanted to reply with.

"Is it important? Now, come on, Yulia."

"It's important you self-centered bastard!" Issei shouted, frightening Yulia a little bit.

"I'm sorry," the handsome man narrowed his eyes, "what do you mean by self-centered?"

"I mean, you actually shrugged of any of my questions about Yulia-san and then you forced your view by asking Yulia to come back. Without any effort to understand her. Without any effort to acknowledge your wrongdoings. What other things I can say other than self-centered?!"

Issei glared angrily at the handsome blonde man who was the brother of the girl behind him.

Yulia's mouth opened in surprise. The boy in front of her...

"You sabotaged her only chance to prove herself to her family. Is that something you can feel proud as a brother? I may not know how it feels to have a little sister, but doing something like that is unforgivable!"

"We did that to protect her you ignorant fool," the handsome man said with a sigh. "Prove yourself to our family? This isn't just a game. Your life is at stake, little sister. I... we created it to protect you, little sister. If the others know that your item is... something as weak as that fishing rod, then nobody would target you. Just last week, honored elder brother had to fight against several people because he made a powerful item."

Yulia gasped. Honored elder brother... so all this time...

"That's right, little sister. Let's go back home. Everybody is worried about you."

"Protect her? Ha! Don't make me laugh. That's just a front. You guys were just afraid of her. She actually has a potential to win, that's why you guys sabotaged her," Issei spoke out with a laugh.

"Why do you insist on demonizing our family? That's just a naive thought formed out of spite. If we all see the good inside our heart, then you already know the answer."

"Sorry, but this sinner's black heart is too dark to see the good inside yours," Issei said with a smirk.

At this words, the handsome man looked disapprovingly at his little sister. "You choose someone like him?" he shook his head. "Then again, I can't say that you choose the worst because mine is similar. However, little sister. You definitely can choose a better one. With someone like him, you wouldn't win even if you have the best item."

Yulia blushed at her brother words, "I-I haven't chosen anyone yet. Issei-san is just a conversation partner."

"Even so, you can have a better conversation partner."

That was a critical blow for Issei's heart.

"Oi! Listen you control freak of a brother. Yulia-san can have a conversation with anyone she wants to!"

"I am patient, boy. So please refrain from taking parts in this conversation because I am currently talking with my little sister."

"Yulia-san! If you want to come back, at least be proud of this fishing rod. Even if this is sabotaged by jealous siblings, I'm sure you can surprise everybody!" Issei said with a big grin on his face.

"Issei-san..." the boy continued to have faith in her. She was honestly touched.

"Why are you so persistent? We're doing this for our precious little sister."

He even continued to antagonize her brother.

"Yeah maybe you think so, but what about your other siblings? I don't think so. One of them must have that thought."

Was leaving him the best course of action? Logically, yes. Issei was just a normal boy. Uninvolved with her.

But...

"Big brother," Yulia spoke up to her brother for the first time. "I've decided. I want to partner with Hyoudou Issei."

Her eyes held a conviction as she stared at the bright blue eyes of her big brother.

"I see... Then you won't mind if I let my partner face him now?"

"What?"

The handsome man clapped twice. "Come here."

Suddenly a figure of a normal human boy appeared out of thin air. "You called, boss?"

It was a voice that was familiar to Issei. "Matsuda?! What are you...?"

"Ise?" Matsuda's eyes looked in surprise before it turned into a grim acceptance. "I see... I want to say something like 'it's nice to see you here' but I'd be lying, Ise. I hope you won't be angry with me afterward."

Still not understanding anything, Issei looked at Yulia for an explanation.

This was it. She did it. She involved a normal boy into something out of his league. Was she happy? Truthfully, she wasn't happy because Hyoudou Issei was actually a nice guy. But a corner of her heart felt happy that she chose Issei as her partner. Would she regret it? She didn't know. One thing she knew, she would be happy whatever the outcome of this encounter was.

"Issei-san. I'm sorry to dump you suddenly into this."

Yulia pointed at the standing form of Matsuda, and Issei felt dread.

"You have to fight him."


	2. Chapter 2

The park where there were four people was silent. One Hyoudou Issei was still tense after his new acquaintance Yulia told him something. He did not understand what happened. He was just a normal high school boy.

And yet Yulia told him to fight his friend.

"I don't understand," Issei honestly spoke up, cutting the thick tension on the park. "What do you mean by fighting Matsuda? What do you mean by partnering with me? I don't understand anything!"

He then took a deep breath before he released it to cool his head. "But I guess, you can explain it later. Fight him, is it? Fine by me. Matsuda!" Issei called out to his friend. "I don't understand the reason, but I'll fight you! Without you and Motohama the Kendo club beat me up three times harder you bastard!"

Issei ran at Matsuda to close their distance. With a swing of the fishing rod, Issei tried to beat Matsuda. However, his fishing rod did not meet any flesh. Matsuda moved too fast for him to catch up

"Where?!"

"Behind you," Matsuda's serious voice called from behind him.

"What?!" Issei wasn't given time to react before Matsuda's fist met his face. He was thrown three meters away.

"Issei-san!" Yulia's shout of worry arrived at his ears.

"Don't worry, Yulia-san. This is just the beginning."

Once again, Issei ran at Matsuda. He swung his fishing rod once again and met with air once again.

"You can't get me like that, Issei." From behind him, Matsuda appeared once again and swung his fist.

"I'm not an idiot to try something that I know will fail twice, Matsuda," with a smile, Issei pressed the button to extend the fishing line.

"What?!"

When the line caught a tree, Issei immediately pushed the button to pull the line. His body automatically flew towards the tree, avoiding Matsuda.

Issei caught his breath on the tree, he looked around searching for Matsuda's form. But he found nothing on Matsuda's previous position. Where was he?

"Here!" From above, Matsuda bashed him using a metal stick.

"Gah!" That was painful. He was lucky he didn't lose consciousness right then.

Issei let out his line and moved towards another place to run from Matsuda.

"How is he able to move that fast?" Issei asked himself.

"As if I'd tell you my secret like that. We're not in a shonen manga."

Without looking back, Issei moved swung his fishing rod again to bind into another place. One more time Issei was able to avoid Matsuda. But this was not the ideal situation. He had to quickly solve the mystery of how Matsuda was able to move that fast.

Matsuda somehow always know where he was. Of course, it was obvious. There were several seconds before the fishing line completely pulled and he arrived at the place where it bounded. But somehow, Matsuda knew it beforehand and moved faster than him to arrive on his blindside.

Think about it, Think about it, Issei. Was there something from his conversation with Yulia that could help him?

 _We were given the chance to craft an item, and the best item will win._

That was it! An Item! Somehow Matsuda could move faster than him because of an Item! Just like his fishing rod, Matsuda was given an Item by that prick of a handsome guy.

"Running away, Issei? I guess our running skill is trained daily by the Kendo Club."

Issei jumped out of the way, but not too far. He had to observe Matsuda and guess what the Item given to him.

Issei swung his fishing rod in a movement similar to what he saw every day from the Kendo Club. Matsuda also did the same. Metal and carbon fiber clashed as the fishing rod met a metal stick. Miraculously the carbon fiber didn't bend and met the metal stick head on.

Was Matsuda's Item the metal stick? No, Issei immediately rejected the thought. When he was punched Matsuda didn't have his metal stick. So what was it?

Issei's eyes widened as he realized the answer.

The camera!

Yes. He was sure the answer was the camera. It was the only thing Matsuda had since he arrived at the park. Now to solve how the camera worked...

Issei extended his fishing line towards a random tree, but his eyes didn't move from Matsuda's form.

There!

Once Issei decided where to bind his fishing line, Matsuda used his camera to get a picture of the place. Matsuda then looked at the result, obvious from his action, and then he faced him. Shit, Matsuda realized that he was observed.

Issei pulled the fishing line without moving his eyes from Matsuda. But he didn't pull completely. He stopped pulling when he was near the tree.

"I get it," Issei spoke up once he saw Matsuda was on the tree before him. "I get your power, Matsuda!"

Now, Issei didn't completely understand Matsuda's camera. But he shouted it to aggravate him.

"Damn," Matsuda said behind him.

Issei leaped out of the way and turned. Now all Issei had to do was count.

One.

"Now I have to finish you quickly."

Issei swung his rod to block the metal stick.

"One and a half second. That's how long until you finished your teleport after you chose the place in your camera."

If Matsuda who clearly wasn't strong enough to use the metal stick with only one hand, had both occupied from gripping the stick, then he wouldn't be able to use the camera hanging on his neck.

Yes. To defeat Matsuda, rather than running away, he only had to face him head-on. But the problem was, just like Matsuda, Issei also couldn't use his fishing rod to block the metal stick using only one hand.

So he broke off the engagement and extend his fishing line towards a farther tree. He jumped and let his body pulled by the force. Matsuda couldn't get the details if the tree was far enough, giving him time to take a breather.

But taking a breather was not what he intended.

Still binding his line into the tree, Issei jumped acrobatically into another tree and let out a silent joy at reaching what he intended. He extended the fishing line again to bind it to both trees.

He did it many more times until he covered enough free space with the fishing line between the trees.

Issei then stood inside the space he had just created but left enough free space so he didn't touch any of the fishing lines.

As he expected, Matsuda couldn't instantly teleport into a place where his camera couldn't reach. Matsuda arrived in front him slightly out of breath.

"You made it hard, Issei. You just have to taste my punch and then your life will be back to normal again."

"It's not about my life, Matsuda. I still don't understand anything. But if whatever this is I'm becoming part of let me fight you for now, then I'd take it. It fucking hurts you bastard! Leaving me all alone to take the Kendo Club while you use your camera to teleport inside the unused locker of the girl's changing room. I can't forgive you for keeping that power to yourself!"

At this, their two benefactors who had just arrived at the place let out a sigh.

"You could have a better partner, Brother."

"Unfortunately he is the best host for my Sacred Gear, Port Shot."

"Why is that?"

"His cameraworks is one of the best I can find in my short timeframe."

"I see... Yes, Issei! I'm keeping this power to myself! Why the hell should I share it with you when you become the risk for my stealth plan?!"

"Damn you aMatsudaaaa! All the boobs I can stare all day long! I want to see them!"

"No. I will keep this for myself!"

Matsuda captured the landscape using his camera and teleported behind Issei.

"Got you, bastard!" Issei shouted.

"What?!" Matsuda couldn't move. "Thread? No, fishing line?!"

"That's right. You fell for my trap, Matsuda. Now you can't teleport anymore!"

Matsuda's hand was restrained by the fishing line which connected from tree to tree. It also bounded his body from head to toe. There was nothing that can be used to move him. He was completely trapped.

"But this also means that you couldn't get me, Issei. How will you defeat me?"

At this, Issei had a smug grin.

"By using this."

Issei pressed the big circle button between the button to extend and to pull. The result was immediate.

"Gyaaaaaahhhhh!"

Matsuda's entire body was electrocuted by strong enough volt that only five seconds of that hell knocked him out.

Issei fell to the ground, his adrenaline rush leaving his body tired. "Yulia-san. I win, right?"

Yulia rushed towards him and hugged him, "Yes, you win, Issei-san. Thank you... thank you so much!" She was in tears from seeing Issei's struggle. The normal human whom she had involved in her problem won using her joke of a Sacred Gear.

She was happy.

"I guess I have to accept the result. Little sister, you've chosen well."

The handsome big brother of Yulia stood in front of the charred and unconscious form of Matsuda and then Matsuda's body suddenly glowed.

"As per the rules, you win the fight, Yulia. Therefore I am not eligible to win the tournament. I am sorry for my part in making that Sacred Gear. I can see it has the same potential to win in a resourceful wielder like him."

Matsuda woke up fully healed. "Dang. Guess that means I lost, huh?"

"Very much so."

"I'm sorry, boss."

The handsome guy smiled at Matsuda. "No need. You correctly used your Sacred Gear to win several times. I didn't expect this one to be this good. Keep that around, will you? I will go back to Heaven for a while. Also stop using a power given by an Angel to commit sins, please."

Matsuda just grinned at that. "Power is power. It doesn't matter whether it was given by an Angel or a Devil. In the end, it's up to the user how to use it." Matsuda then did a salute at the handsome blonde. "But if it's your order, boss. Then I'll restrain myself. I won't perv using Port Shot. Still a stupid name, by the way."

Matsuda then approached Issei. "Hey, Angel-san. Why haven't you heal him yet? Doesn't Angels given chance to heal their partners every time a battle ends?"

"I don't want to wake him up," Yulia said softly as she looked at the sleeping form of Issei Hyoudou on her lap.

"I see. I thought I can help with the exposition part. But since he's sleeping, I'm off, then. See you later, Angel-san."

* * *

Hyoudou Issei woke up from his slumber.

"Ah..."

What his eyes saw when he opened them was the concerned face of Yulia-san, his new acquaintance.

"Issei-san! You woke up." Yulia then did something that made his whole body lit up. And then all the aches he felt on his entire body vanished.

"Huh? Yulia-san. What happened?"

"You won, Issei-san."

"I see. Then is it alright if you explain what that was to me?" Issei stood up from his sleeping position. He then blinked when he realized what kind of position it was.

Did this woman in front of him just give him a lap pillow? Damn, why did he stood up quickly and not savor the taste as long as possible?!

"To begin with, I am Yulia, a low-tier Angel from Heaven."

Why did she start with something ridiculous like that?! But Issei guessed she wasn't lying because truly, her beauty was inhumane.

"We are having a tournament. Each of us Angel is given one chance to craft a Sacred Gear, an item of power. We then bestow them to humans to fight until one of them surrender or unconscious, or worse, dead, although it was frowned upon. The humans have to fight until only one Sacred Gear remains in the tournament, in which the Angels would be declared the winner and will take the throne of Heaven. The winning human will be given a wish."

That was a lot to take in for Issei. A battle royal tournament using a Sacred Gear, an item of power. He had to fight until one remains.

"So yeah," Yulia let out a nervous smile. "I technically wasn't lying when I talked to you."

"That's... a lot to take in, Yulia-san. So your brother is also an Angel and he gave Matsuda his Sacred Gear, is that right? I defeated Matsuda, so what now?"

"You continue to fight. Matsuda-san has lost therefore my brother is eliminated. Issei-san, from now on, be careful, okay. To make the tournament progress faster, each Sacred Gear User would instinctively know each other. That was how Matsuda-san instantly understood the situation when he first teleported, he sensed the Sacred Gear with you."

"I see... Yes, Yulia-san. I will be careful."

Yulia nodded, "One last thing, Issei-san. That Sacred Gear, I haven't given it a name. Since you are the user, I leave it to you for the name. Now I have to go back to Heaven to register your name as my partner. But tomorrow, let's meet again here."

"Yes. Let's meet again tomorrow, Yulia-san. As for the Sacred Gear... I think I will name it Eternal String."

"Eternal String, huh? A fitting name, I think. See you later, Issei-san. Thank you for bearing with me."

"No no, it is I who should thank you, Yulia-san. For the first time in my life, I experienced the most sought out thing in life, a lap pillow."

Yulia then opened up her wings, ascending to Heaven in front of Issei's eyes.

"Man, Angels are such beauty."

Issei then looked around for any sign of Sacred Gear User. If Sacred Gear User attracted other Sacred Gear Users, then he needed to be ready for anything. Maybe he would ask Matsuda tomorrow in school.

* * *

Far inside the Heaven, the administrator of the Sacred Gear Tournament, the Archangel Michael himself was sitting in front of several more Angels. It was time for daily reports of the tournament.

"Melkia's partner, Matsuda was defeated," an Angel spoke up after reading the report on his desk. "The one who defeated him is the newly made Yulia-Hyoudou Issei partnership. Japan's unusually quiet today."

"Thank you, what about England?" Michael asked another Angel.

"Europe's coalition of partners hold strong. They defeated another group. The defeated's partners are listed here." The Angel gave his report to Michael. He speedread the document and then nodded.

"Now, what about the budding problems in China?"

At this, another Angel spoke up. "A Natural hijacked the tournament. He defeated several partners with his Sacred Gear. It is currently unknown to us what his Sacred Gear is, but to defeat Zelia's partner who is the seventh favorite, he must be quite powerful."

"Similar things are happening around the world."

Michael frowned. "The secrecy was blown out this early, huh? So our estimate that Heaven was spied was spot on."

The angels waited for their leader's decision.

"Left them alone for now. As much as I don't want them to interfere, those Natural Sacred Gear Users helps to thin out the competition. If our creations cannot beat Father's, then how do we expect to hold Father's title as the Leader of Heaven?"

"But Brother," his sister, the Archangel Gabriel interjected. "Those Natural Sacred Gear Users has Balance Breaker. Our Artificial Sacred Gear does not have them. It is like letting them away after knowing they have cheats at their disposal. I don't like this, Brother."

Michael smiled at the concern raised by Gabriel.

"It's simple, dear Sister. You just have to have faith in your partner. Father gave us the mechanic to build a Sacred Gear, even if ours are called Artificial, it has the same component as their Natural counterparts. Who is to say that none of ours can reach Balance Breaker?"

Gabriel nodded at that, being reassured by Michael's words. She just had to have faith in her partner.

"Nobody wants to say anything? Then the meeting is dismissed."

* * *

 **A/N: I hope I captured the 'clever battle' like those presented in Jojo, Saike Mata Shite mo, and Law of Ueki which is my inspiration in making this fic.**


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Issei found himself lounging around together with Matsuda on the bench when it was the lunch break in Kuoh Academy. After the tiring day yesterday, Issei immediately went asleep when he arrived at his house. He found out that he could dismiss Eternal String and summon it back with his thought.

"Yup, we can dematerialize our Sacred Gear, though if we want to use it, it has to be in the materialized state," Matsuda answered Issei's confusion about his findings.

"I see. What else is the general power of the Sacred Gear?"

"I thought your benefactor has told you?"

Issei shook his head at Matsuda's question. "We promised to meet again in that park this evening. She agreed to explain everything there."

"From what I understood and has been told by my boss, Sacred Gear users attract other Sacred Gear users. That's how I understood immediately when I teleported to the park," Matsuda explained.

"Yeah, Yulia-san had told me that. Any other things?" I asked my friend again. He finished his lunch before he spoke.

"Also, boss explained that we are Artificial Sacred Gear users because our gears were created by Angels. There are Natural Sacred Gear made by the God. You know, the one from the Bible."

"Really?"

"Made me consider converting to Christianity right there. Then I remembered if I join Christianity every time I watch porn I'll sin so I didn't bother with that."

Issei didn't know if he had to praise Matsuda for his galls or scolded him for his idiocy, so he settled on being silent and just nodded.

"Anything else? What are the capabilities of Port Shot, anyway? Let's exchange information to familiarize ourselves."

Matsuda nodded. "It's like a normal camera. However, it would never run out of power or space. So I can take infinite amounts of pictures without any worry of the battery dying. In fact, I have pictures of all the important places in this city, you know, for preventive measure. The main capability of Port Shot is as the name implies, it can teleport me anywhere as long as I have the picture of the place in my camera. As you realize from our battle, no matter how far it is, there is one and half second delay until I materialize into the place I choose."

"I see, I see," Issei nodded. "As for Eternal String. It can extend and pull the fishing line. The main capability is that the fishing line is endless. I've tried extending it for half an hour last night but it still has no end."

"Wait, it's not the electrocuting feature?" Matsuda interjected.

"Nah, I consider it as a finishing move, rather than the main capability. It's more fun that way, don't you think? Reminds me of that one American comic hero. So yeah. As far as I find out, that's the capabilities of Eternal String."

Matsuda nodded. "Rather than weak, it's just not strong but covered its lack of power by versatility."

"That's right. Any more information, Matsuda?"

Suddenly Issei felt an unrecognizable tingling. However, he ignored it in favor of hearing Matsuda's responses.

"Oh yeah, regarding the attraction between Sacred Gear user. If you were declared as lost, then you won't attract nor be attracted to other Sacred Gear users. Boss said it was to prevent the loser from being destroyed or taking revenge. Similarly, if a user is still in the competition but the one he fought didn't trigger the attraction, then he would know that the one he faced had already lost," Matsuda finished his explanation and then he sucked out the orange juice he drank.

"And how do you know you are being attracted to a Sacred Gear user?" Issei suddenly felt nervous when the tingling he had became even harder. "Is it a feeling of tingle in your entire body?"

"Yeah. Did your benefactor told you?" Matsuda threw the empty box of orange juice into the trash can. With a plop, the box was successfully thrown.

Issei looked around in panic.

"What's wrong, Ise?"

"No, Yulia-san hasn't told me that," Issei said in a hurry. His eyes wandering around trying to find something or precisely a someone. "It's because I'm feeling it now."

"There's a Sacred Gear user here!"

"Sssh!" Issei motioned to Matsuda to stay silent. Matsuda nodded and also scanned his surroundings.

Who was it?

Who was the Sacred Gear user?

Issei's eyes found the walking Kiba Yuuto, who noticed his stare and smiled at them with that handsome smile of his. Damn handsome bastard. He replied with a tongue out when Kiba had his attention taken by a girl coming at him.

Issei looked around for any sign of a Sacred Gear user but found the tingling sensation he felt leaving his body.

"It's gone," Issei spoke out loud informing Matsuda.

"Maybe whoever it is, they're just scouting? What are the chances of another Sacred Gear user from Kuoh? As far as I know, it's only you and me. I faced random dudes or even someone from other schools, not to mention this tournament is worldwide," Matsuda remarked.

Issei inclined to agree. Whoever they were, maybe they just scouted from ridiculous places like the rooftop or something and then they jumped outside the range.

The ringing sound of the bell snapped the two out of their suspense. "Come on, Ise. Let's go to class. It's obvious whoever they are, they aren't going to attack now."

Issei nodded and they went back to their class.

However, Issei couldn't shake the feeling that he had overlooked something.

* * *

It was after school when Issei felt the tingling again. His mind instantly went to overdrive. He hadn't even left the classroom yet, so there was no way that a scout from the rooftop or something was the user. It had to be a member of this school.

Issei ran to catch up to Matsuda. He was the only reliable source he had now, and they were friends. When he was running on the hallway, though, he bumped into someone and fell to the ground.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was in a hurry," Issei reflexively apologized to the person he bumped.

"It's fine, it's fine. Nobody was harmed so it's okay." There he was again. Kiba Yuuto the Prince of Kuoh Academy. Girls all over fell for him. He extended his hand for Issei who just looked at him ridiculously.

"There's no way I'd take the hand of a handsome bastard like you, hmph."

Issei froze.

"Hyoudou-san? What's wrong?"

The hallway was strangely empty. There were no other students even though the class barely ended. There should be a traffic of people here. The tingling sensation also never stopped and it reminded Issei about this afternoon.

This afternoon, the tingling happened when Kiba Yuuto was entering his range of vision and stopped when Kiba Yuuto left. Issei wanted to left him to test his theory but he feared that Kiba Yuuto would attack him from behind.

After all, if his suspicion was correct, then Kiba Yuuto is a Sacred Gear user.

Issei took several steps back while facing Kiba. He then summoned Eternal String and held it with both hands.

Kiba narrowed his eyes. "I see. Tell me, did the church send you? Or the Grigori?" Then a sword was formed on his hand. It was a normal sword with no remarkable trait. "To think that there's an agent hiding beneath our noses. How careless."

Issei didn't know what Kiba was talking about so he didn't answer. This was a hallway. The setting was not good for his Sacred Gear, Eternal String which needed free spaces. On the corner of his eyes, he saw a tree outside the building.

That was it, Issei decided.

The hallway was on the third floor. There was no other way to go outside unless he jumped out of the window.

So he did.

He opened the window and jumped from the third floor. Without waiting Issei extended the fishing line so he could swing and not fall. He landed with a roll to soften the fall on the ground. When he looked at the third-floor hallway that he just jumped out, though, he saw no form of Kiba Yuuto.

"Shit," Issei muttered. "It's like yesterday all over again but in school."

Issei's instinct told him to move right. He relented and barely managed to dodge a lethal slash from his opponent who left his vision again and suddenly appeared from his blind side to try another slash.

This time, Issei raised Eternal String to block the sword. Despite being made of carbon fiber, surprisingly it could handle the sword being swung at him. Issei disengaged from Kiba and used the butt of Eternal String's handle to shift the momentum and throw his opponent aside. Without waiting for any retaliation, Issei extended his line and caught the sword on Kiba's hand and pulled it toward him.

Issei smiled. Now he could use the sword Kiba made against him.

However, to his surprise, Kiba in front of him didn't look panicked at all. He even smiled that infuriating handsome smile that he hated. In annoyance, Issei swung the sword.

But no edges met someone's neck. The sword was disintegrating in front of his eyes. So that was why Kiba was smiling!

"Is the sword a Sacred Gear which can teleport back to its user?"

"You seem to misunderstand something, Hyoudou-san," Kiba suddenly spoke up. On his hands, a various model of swords was formed instantly. "My Sacred Gear is not the sword. In fact-"

"The sword is created by the Sacred Gear!" Issei realized when he looked at Kiba's handful of swords.

"That's right. Sword Birth. I can create any kind of swords that I want."

It was fucking scary! Was this the kind of weapon made by the peaceful Angels?! Although...

"Do you have to explain your power to me? That seems like, a bad move, man. We're not in a shonen manga so no need to explain it."

Kiba just smiled at his response. "It's called courtesy, Hyoudou-kun."

"I don't know where you learned but if courtesy means you give your opponent ammunition to help defeat you, then I welcome you!"

Issei then extended his line to try and encircle Kiba to restrict his movement. His target replied by cutting the spaces around him at light speed.

The thing was, the fishing line could not be cut. So Kiba's effort was fruitless. The fishing line caught him.

"You got me, Hyoudou-san."

Yes, Issei got Kiba. So why was Kiba's hand glowing? Issei did not let down his guard because of that.

Kiba thrust his restricted hand to the ground. It shook and then suddenly the ground below him rumbled and dozens of pointy irons came out from the ground.

Issei barely managed to dodge by jumping to the left, even then some of the swords (can it even be called that?) grazed his right leg, making it bleed.

"Shit!"

"It seems that we're in a deadlock, Hyoudou-san."

No, they didn't. Kiba strictly had the upper ground.

"So why don't you tell me all about the mission from your organization? This area is under Buchou's jurisdiction and should not attract any attention."

Buchou... wasn't Kiba Yuuto part of the infamous Occult Research Club? If he remembered correctly, the club president was... Rias Gremory from the third year! What did she have to do with this Sacred Gear competition?

"What do you mean by jurisdiction?"

"Don't play dumb!" Kiba's hand glowed for a moment. It was an intimidation. Kiba didn't want Issei to play dumb and lie. He wanted an honest answer.

But Issei didn't lie. He really didn't understand anything anymore. He thought the Sacred Gear tournament was the extent of the supernatural world.

Issei's hand hovered around the electrify button. He was tempted to push the button to see Kiba's reaction. However, he had felt that something was missing from the picture. He was very sure of it, but couldn't identify what it was.

His mind raced.

Yesterday, Matsuda sensed him and instantly understood the situation. He understood that Sacred Gear users attracted other Sacred Gear users because it was deliberately designed that way by the Angels. However, not all Sacred Gears were created by the Angels. There were Natural Sacred Gear created by God and bestowed to human, therefore, not all Sacred Gear user would understand that there was a battle royal tournament.

The handsome blonde in front of him, he didn't instantly understand that they were supposed to fight. Instead, the one who did the first aggressive move by summoning the Sacred Gear was him. And then there were his responses. First, he asked if Issei was an agent of the church or Grigori. He didn't understand what Kiba meant. Then, Kiba also said something about Rias Gremory and jurisdiction.

Therefore, Issei can conclude that Kiba Yuuto was a Natural Sacred Gear user. He was not one hundred percent convinced, though. He had one last card left to prove his point.

"Kiba Yuuto. Tournament."

Kiba's expression morphed into a confusion, but it instantly went back to the default stoic handsome.

Issei sighed when he noticed that. "I see. It seems that there is a misunderstanding, Kiba-san."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Sword Birth. It wasn't given to you by an Angel, was it?"

"No. What do Angels have to do with Sacred Gear? It was His creation."

Issei released Kiba from his hold. "Please wait for a bit. I assure you I mean no harm. I was wrong." He then dialed Matsuda's number.

"Matsuda? Can you come to the backyard of the school?" Issei looked around him. "You said you had all the photos of important places, right? Five meters south from the big sakura tree... You don't know where south is? Just look at the shades, damn it. Good."

Exactly one and half a second later, Matsuda appeared beside him.

"What do you need, Issei?"

Issei pointed at Kiba who looked a little startled by the suddenness of Matsuda's appearance.

"We came into a little scuffle. I thought he is also a competitor, turns out he's a Natural Sacred Gear user."

Kiba perked up at hearing the word Natural Sacred Gear.

"What do you mean by Natural, Hyoudou-san? And what competition?"

Matsuda looked aghast. "How the hell I couldn't sense him until now?!" He then sighed.

"It's a long story, Kiba-san. And I think if you follow me, you will find an answer. I also don't have much of the answer. Matsuda here has been in longer than me," Issei answered Kiba's question.

"Hey! I didn't want to upset your benefactor by dumping you with the information she wanted to tell you!" Matsuda chirped in.

"And I'm very thankful about that, Matsuda. If you hadn't said anything about the Natural Sacred Gear user, I wouldn't stop from fighting Kiba and I might be hurt worse or dead," Issei reassured Matsuda.

"Tch, don't mention it, you idiot."

Kiba agreed to join him in getting an explanation from Issei's benefactor, Yulia. So the three of them went to the park where Issei and Matsuda fought just yesterday.


	4. Chapter 4

On the way to the park, Matsuda teleported somewhere and went back with a roll of bandages. They stopped for a while to bandages the slash on Issei's leg. Kiba won't stop saying sorry all the way. Maybe it was his personality but Issei found it annoying. Handsome, and polite to boot. The enemy of all males, indeed.

They arrived at the park a little later than what was agreed between Issei and Yulia. Issei quickly found Yulia sitting on the same bench she did yesterday.

"Yulia-san," Issei called out. Yulia's face instantly brightened up when she saw Issei.

"Issei-san!" Yulia exclaimed in a happy tone. She then looked behind Issei to see Matsuda and Kiba approaching her. "Who is that behind you? I recognize Matsuda-san, but I don't know the other one," her tone became subdued for some reason.

Issei observed that Kiba's smile also dropped and his face sported a thin line.

"Is this the one you said, Hyoudou-san?"

He felt like he missed something important. Nevertheless, he answered Kiba with a short reply, "Yes."

"I only explain the basic of Sacred Gear for Issei's sake, Yulia-san. I reckon you want to explain everything else to Issei," Matsuda interjected, also sensing a hidden tension but not understanding where did it come from.

"I see..." There was an awkward silence as Yulia and Kiba did a stare-off with nobody brave enough to interrupt.

"Before I can explain what you are getting into, Issei-san, first I must explain the basic, and I think Matsuda-san will also be benefitted from this? I don't think Big Brother bothered to explain the basic to you."

Matsuda nodded in agreement. "As much as cool Boss is, he's like that. Dropped this camera on me and told me to fight. But that's what makes him cool in a jerk-ish way, I guess."

"So, Angels are real as you see with your own eyes. What about the rest, then?" Yulia asked the two of them.

Kiba paid attention to Yulia's explanation partly because he was interested and because he wanted to keep Issei and Matsuda from hearing the biased version. So far, her question led to a realization.

Issei and Matsuda looked at each other. "Other fantastical and mythical creatures are also real?!"

Yulia nodded. "That is correct. Now to delve on the history of Angels, please read the Bible from the start to the finish," she said seriously.

"Noo!" Matsuda shouted out loud. "If I read the Bible then I would believe in Christianity and then I will be cast out to Hell for all my sins in life! Hail Buddhism! Hail reincarnation!"

"That's not how religion works, you idiot. ...or is it?" Issei looked at Yulia, who only smiled.

"More or less."

More or less what?! Issei could hear Matsuda shouted in his mind. But Matsuda didn't voice that out loud.

"Anyway, I've read the basics. God created the world. God created Angels, Devils, and Humans. etcetera. I didn't remember anything else. Been a long time since I read it."

From the corner of his eyes, Issei saw Kiba approaching the vending machine and inserted money to buy drinks. Damn handsome, polite, and generous as well. Enemy of all male.

"You're a Christian, Issei-san?!" Yulia took his attention as she wrapped her hands around his in excitement. Issei earnestly wanted Yulia to stop what she was doing, but he was also kind of excited from it.

"Damn, why is my boss a male?! Why can't I have a female Angels holding my hand?!"

Issei pointedly ignored the rambling of a madman.

"N-No. Unfortunately no, Yulia-san. My childhood friend is, and his family was a devout one. Whenever I visit their house, I always took that chance to read it. It was interesting seeing how people think the world is created."

Yulia slumped down. Her eyes were downcast when Issei said that he wasn't a follower. Issei made a mental note of learning about Christianity once more after this meeting if only to make her stop feeling sad.

"Here," Kiba had already gone back to them and handed each of them a can of soda. When he was about to give the can to Yulia, the weird tension was coming out again. He definitely missed something there, Issei thought.

...wait a second. Other supernaturals and myth were real, the fact was given to them by Yulia, a part of the supernatural herself. And then Yulia had asked them if they knew the story of how God created the world and the history of Angels. God created Angels, and also Devils, and Humans. If Angels were real... there was also the hidden tension in the air, and the way Kiba dropped his pretty boy smile into a more stoic one. It sounded weird to Issei, but he knew that one slight shift in Kiba's expression because how much Kiba put up his pretty boy smile whenever Issei saw him in school. Stupid brain. Picking up little details on worthless things like that when there are far more important things like how Murayama's boobs jiggled.

"This might be just a wrong guess, but please humor me. Kiba-san, are you perhaps a Devil? Or Fallen Angel?"

Matsuda looked at me before his mind also connected the dots and gaped at Kiba.

"Your mind is scarily sharp, Hyoudou-san. Yes, I am a Devil."

Yulia smiled at Issei, she was glad that Issei was not a bad partner. She definitely would not regret being with Issei.

"I thought you would be aggressive to me, Kiba-san."

"Oh," Kiba smiled at Yulia. "Believe me, I wanted to. What is an Angel doing in this territory without confirming their presence? I can cut you down here right now."

That statement made Issei and Matsuda summon their Sacred Gear. It occurred to them that they had just brought two archenemies to meet. Issei kind of regretted doing it.

"But no, I am not going to. I want to understand what is happening in this territory under our noses when everything should be reported to us as the ones who manage this territory first," Kiba said with an authoritative voice that made Issei shivered.

Yulia looked at Kiba and sighed. "I guess it is our fault to instigate that here. So it's like this, Kiba-san. Angels are having Sacred Gears fight. We create artificial Sacred Gear and bestow them to humans. They fight. The winner will have their wish granted."

Kiba wanted to interject but was cut by Yulia, "You might be thinking what was the point of this, am I right? Was it to prepare an army? Or maybe it was for something else? I can't tell you that because I am not that high in the hierarchy."

"I see..." Kiba's face held a contemplative look. "So Hyoudou-kun and Matsuda-kun here were chosen by Angels to fight for them? But then why aren't you two fighting?"

"I lost to Issei," was Matsuda's short reply. "Speaking of which, Yulia-san. Why did Boss tell me to keep my Sacred Gear? Haven't I lost already?"

"The one who already lost was not obligated to return their Sacred Gear. However, as a consequence, they have to be ready and accept that their normal life will be gone. Such is the price of having powers in this world. My brother isn't here but I have to ask you again, Matsuda-san. Do you want to keep that Sacred Gear?"

Issei and Kiba looked at Matsuda. Did he want to involve himself in the supernatural world? Or did he want to go back to his normal life? Keeping himself involved in the supernatural world meant that he had to say goodbye to his normal life even after the Sacred Gear tournament is finished.

Before Matsuda can answer the question, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

"I... finally found you... Yulia..."

When Issei looked at the newcomers, it was to see a bloodied man who fell to the ground with a pleading look on his face.

"Disna?! What happened to you?!"

So Yulia knew him? Wait, didn't that mean this man was also an Angel?

"Fallen Angels... they got... my partner's Gear... in the abandoned church... please help..."

And then the Angel lost consciousness.

The situation on the park was tense. Everyone didn't move an inch when they saw the Angel fell unconscious. Their mind had not connected the fact that in front of them laid down an Angel with a body full of wounds. It wasn't until Yulia shouted that everyone began to realize the situation.

"Disna!" she ran towards the body, hoping that the friend she had in Heaven was alright.

It was not fair. It was not fair at all.

Disna was one of the Angels that dislike violence. He did not even want to participate in this tournament. And yet why was Disna the one that got violently beaten by their enemy?

"Yulia-san! Heal him! You can use one-time heal for me every battle ends, right?! Use it right now!" Issei shouted at her.

"But-"

"But nothing! He's the one that needs it right now! Come on, Matsuda!"

"Right behind you, Issei!"

"Where are you going, Issei-san?!"

"Where else?" was Issei's short response as he and Matsuda left the park.

Yulia did as she was told, to heal Disna. She poured all of her holy energy to Disna's wounded body. It began to glow with a translucent white aura, and after ten seconds, the wounds were all closed. The healing process was finished.

But.

Even though Yulia should feel grateful that her friend's condition had stabilized, she couldn't stop her tears.

"Why are you crying?" Kiba who didn't say anything since earlier spoke to her.

"I couldn't heal him."

Kiba looked confused. "I think you did a perfect job healing the Angel, Yulia-san."

"I couldn't heal Issei-san after this. We were only given one chance to heal our partner after a battle," she explained between her sob. "What if his wounds are more severe? This is a normal human we're talking about! Disna who is an Angel has this much wounds. What do you think the Human Issei-san would get after his battle?"

Kiba was silent. He couldn't form an answer because he exactly knew what the answer was. If he said it out loud, it would only hurt the girl in front of him.

As much as he hated the church, he hated making a girl sad more.

"Please, Kiba-san, I know I have no rights to ask you this. I know you have no obligation to accept this, but, would listen to this request of mine?"

So he listened.

* * *

The duo of Hyoudou Issei and Matsuda was running towards the abandoned church. They had no obligation to do it, but they did it anyway. It was not because they had an ulterior motive to win Yulia's heart. It was not because they had an ulterior motive to dispose of another competitor for the prize. It was not because they had an ulterior motive to destroy the enemies of Angels.

They simply did not like that their playground was invaded.

Let us say that in a park, three kids were making sand castles. They were having fun making all sorts of thing to add to their growing sandcastles. Then suddenly, an older kid approached and started telling the three first kids what to do, and how to build it better. The end result might be better if the three kids followed the older kid's advice. But would they want to follow him at all?

Their situation was similar to the three kids. They were fighting each other for a prize. Suddenly, the Fallen Angels, the enemies of their benefactors, infiltrated the fights by getting the Sacred Gears. Would they be fine?

No, they would not.

But because this situation was uniquely tailored for the Artificial Sacred Gear user, a Natural Sacred Gear user like Kiba Yuuto was unreliable. The Naturals had not betted their lives to see their wish fulfilled as much as Matsuda did. They had not missed the context but thrust to fight their friends as Issei did.

So they could not rely on Kiba's help. They had to face this together.

"Speaking of which, Issei, why didn't we teleport to the church, instead of, you know, running and spending all our stamina like this?"

"Are you an idiot? What if we're immediately surrounded in all sides? You wanna teleport us back to this place? We have to read the situation first, and to do that we have to go there on our own."

"But I can teleport us to one hundred meters before the church. What? Do you think I meant to teleport us directly inside?"

Issei stopped his run, and Matsuda also did. "Why didn't you say so, Idiot!"

"I did say that I have captured every single place I deemed critical! You're the one that suddenly asked me to run!"

"But wait, I don't know you can take someone else with you as you teleport? Can you?"

Matsuda threw his face to the side.

"Why aren't you giving me a straight answer?! What's with that girly-like response?!"

"I have not tried it before, alright!" Matsuda replied as heated as Issei.

"Then there's no reason for you to start experimenting with it now!" Issei instantly continued his run towards the church.

"Sigh, then I'll meet you there, Issei. I'll scout ahead first," Matsuda said to the faraway form of Hyoudou Issei. He then summoned his trusty Sacred Gear, Port Shot (still a stupid name, damn his boss for giving it a stupid name) and picked a nice landscape view of the church.

He chose a big tree behind the bush. And in exactly one and a half second later, he found his surroundings changed into that of the picture.

"Right. Time to enter the enemy stronghold blindly, then," he muttered in sarcasm. The abandoned church had a back door, and as Matsuda moved to open it, he felt his instinct of survival fired up.

He ducked to avoid something coming to him, and his feeling was correct because he was almost hit by a bullet.

"Well well, what do you think you are doing?"

A figure holding a pistol was standing ten meters on his right. The figure was a white-haired man wearing a priest nd there was a sword hilt hanging on his belt.

Shit, this was bad.

He had no weapon, no information, no support. This was hell.

At least, he mused. His objective was not to win but to stall until Issei arrived. If he could win it was a bonus.

"Alright," Matsuda stretched his arm. "Come here," he made a 'come at me' gesture to the man in the priest robe.

He made his choice. He would keep his Sacred Gear.

The man just grinned crazily.

And then two opposing force clashed. 


End file.
